Legislative Update from Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner

 

Dear Friends,

The Legislative Session for 2023 is now in its third week and I want to update you on what I have been doing.

I am pleased to share that Speaker Carl Heastie has named me as Chair of the Standing Committee on Libraries and Education Technology.  Over the coming weeks, I will be working on learning about the budget for state funding of libraries across the state and meeting with representatives of library systems in preparation for the 2023-2024 budget.

Legislative committees have begun meeting, taking up a number of bills that are what is called “Chapter Amendments”.  These bills relate to legislation passed in the prior session, and which Governor Hochul has negotiated amendments to them as a condition of signing them into law.  One of my bills, the NY Textile Act, had a negotiated Chapter Amendment with some minor changes and that was passed by the Assembly earlier in the month.  Committee meetings for the Assembly are now being broadcast live and you can tune in to watch live or archived video from the Assembly website (https://nyassembly.gov/av/).

This past week, I hosted a press conference on the critical financial issues facing the non-profit nursing homes like Fort Hudson Health Center (in Fort Edward) and Wesley Health Center (in Saratoga Springs).  I was joined by CEOs from these organizations as well as St. Peters and Daughters of Sarah (in Albany) and by a bipartisan group of Assembly members.  Our goal is to secure a significant increase in reimbursement rates for long term care and an update to the rates to reflect the current cost of care.  You can watch a bit of the press conference by clicking here.

The Assembly took up the second passage of New York’s Equal Rights Amendment this week.  I voted in favor of this constitutional amendment because it will enshrine in our state constitution the equal treatment of all citizens without regard for gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.  As a constitutional amendment, it will now be put on the ballot in 2024 for you to decide if this amendment should be made to the state constitution.

Upcoming this week, on Wednesday, is Governor Hochul’s presentation of her Executive Budget.  This proposal marks the start of the process of developing the state budget which must be adopted by April 1.  If you have not yet filled out your 2023 Constituent Survey, I hope you will take a moment and do that as I use the results to help me advocate for the budget priorities set by my constituents.  You can find the online survey by clicking here.

As the Legislative Session progresses, you can expect to hear from me with updates periodically.  As always, my door is always open, and if there is a topic you want to bring to my attention, please reach out by email (woernerc@nyassembly.gov) or call the office (518-584-5493).

Have a great week —